SUP  45,  5^ 


AFRICA  AND  COLONIZATION. 


AN 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 


Jttas0ad)usctt0  (£olom?ation  Society, 


May  27,  1857. 


BY 


WILLIAM  G.  T.  SHEDD. 


[From  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra  for  July,  1857.] 


ANDOVER: 

PRINTED  BY  WARREN  F.  DRAPER. 
1 857. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1857,  by 
WARREN  F.  DRAPER, 

the  Clerk’s  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


ADDRESS 


Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen : 

On  the  22d  of  March,  1775,  Edmund  Burke,  pleading  for 
the  liberties  of  the  American  Colonies,  in  the  British  House 
of  Commons,  had  occasion  to  allude  to  their  marvellous 
growth,  as  outrunning  everything  of  the  kind  in  the  then 
past  history  of  England,  or  the  world.  In  less  than  seventy 
years,  he  said,  the  trade  with  America  had  increased  twelve- 
fold. It  had  grown  from  a half-million  of  pounds  per  an- 
num to  six  millions  — a sum  nearly  equal  to  the  whole  ex- 
port trade  of  England  at  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  This  rapid  growth,  he  continued,  might  all  be  span- 
ned by  the  life  of  a single  man,  “ whose  memory  might  touch 
the  two  extremities.”  Lord  Bathurst  was  old  enough,  in 
1704,  to  understand  the  figures  and  the  facts,  as  they  then 
stood.  The  same  Lord  Bathurst,  in  1775,  was  a member  of 
that  parliament,  before  whom  the  great  orator  was  reciting 
the  new  facts  that  were  stranger  than  fiction,  in  order  to 
waken  England  to  a consciousness  that  the  colonies  beyond 
the  sea  were  bone  of  her  bone  and  flesh  of  her  flesh,  and 
must  be  treated  accordingly.  Warming  from  the  gravity  of 
his  theme,  and  rising  in  soul  as  the  vision  slowly  evolved  be- 
fore him,  he  represents  the  guardian  angel  of  the  youthful 
Bathurst  as  drawing  aside  the  curtain  of  the  future  and  un- 
folding the  rising  glories  of  his  country ; and  particularly 
as  pointing  him,  while  absorbed  in  the  commercial  grandeur 
of  England,  to  u a little  speck  scarce  visible  in  the  mass  of 


4 


the  national  interest,  a small  seminal  principle,  rather  than 
a formed  body,”  and  as  saying  to  him : u Young  man,  there 
is  America ; which,  at  this  day,  serves  for  little  more  than  to 
amuse  you  with  stories  of  savage  men  and  uncouth  man- 
ners ; yet  shall,  before  you  taste  of  death,  show  itself  equal 
to  the  whole  of  that  commerce  which  now  attracts  the  envy 
of  the  world.” 1 

We  have  alluded  to  this  well-known  but  ever  fresh  and 
fine  prosopopoeia  of  the  great  Englishman,  because  it  spon- 
taneously comes  into  memory  when  one  commences  to  read, 
to  think,  or  to  speak  upon  Africa.  That  tropical  continent 
lies  nearly  as  dim  and  vague  before  the  mind  of  this  gene- 
ration, as  the  cold  and  cheerless  America  did  before  the 
mind  of  England  when  Johnson  and  Burke  were  boys. 
With  the  exception  of  a small  strip  of  the  Atlantic  coast, 
the  wilds  of  this  Western  world  were  as  unknown  to  the  Eng- 
lishman of  1700,  as  the  jungles  of  Soudan  or  the  highlands 
of  Central  Africa  are  to  us.  And  yet  it  may  be  that  there  are 
youth  of  this  generation  who  will  live  to  see  those  dim  be- 
ginnings of  Christianity,  of  civilization,  and  of  empire, 
which  are  now  scarcely  visible  on  the  African  Atlantic  coast, 
expanded  and  still  expanding  into  vigorous  and  vital 
churches,  into  strong  and  mighty  States.  The  guardian  ge- 
nius, in  this  instance  too,  might  with  perhaps  as  much 
probability  of  verification,  say  to  the  youth  whom  he  leads 
by  the  hand  : “ Young  man,  there  is  Africa  ; which,  at  this 
day,  serves  for  little  more  than  to  amuse  you  with  stories  of 
savage  men  and  uncouth  manners  ; yet  it  shall,  before  you 
taste  of  death,  take  its  place  among  the  continents,  and  be 
no  longer  an  unknown  world.” 

For  nothing  is  more  wonderful  than  the  changes  and  trans- 
formations of  history.  But  involved,  as  every  present  genera- 
tion is,  in  the  great  stream,  and  whirled  along  by  it,  it  is  not 
strange  that  no  generation  of  men  are  ever  fully  aware  of  the 
strength  and  rapidity  of  their  own  movement.  He  who  be- 
longs to  another  generation,  and  looks  back,  can  see  that 
in  such  a century,  and  in  such  a quarter  of  the  globe,  a 

1 Speech  on  Conciliation  with  America. 


5 


mighty  current  was  running.  The  spectator  always  sees 
more  than  the  actor.  The  rare  prophetic  mind,  also,  that 
beholds  the  future  in  the  instant,  may  foresee  and  predict 
a history  too  great  and  grand  for  contemporaneous  belief. 
The  philosophic  statesman  is  aware  of  what  is  going  on  in 
the  struggling  masses  around  him,  and  auspicates  accord- 
ingly. But  the  common  man,  of  the  busy  present  time,  never 
knows  the  rate  he  is  moving ; because  he  is,  himself,  ab- 
sorbed and  carried  headlong  in  the  movement.  It  is  not 
strange,  therefore,  that  all  hopeful,  glowing  vaticination,  in 
respect  to  changes  upon  this  sin-smitten  planet,  is  regarded 
with  distrust.  Such  anticipations  are  supposed  to  belong  to 
the  poet  and  the  orator.  They  have  no  support  in  the  data 
and  calculations  of  the  statician  or  the  statesman. 

Called  upon  then,  as  we  are  at  this  time,  to  consider 
the  present  and  prospective  condition  of  the  most  wretched 
and  unpromising  quarter  of  the  globe,  by  the  voice  of  that 
Colonizing  Society  which  has  already  done  more  than  any 
other  single  association  for  the  welfare  of  Africa,  and  which 
is  destined,  we  believe,  under  that  benign  Providence  which 
has  protected  and  blessed  it  thus  far,  to  see  its  own  great 
ideas  and  plans  realized ; called  upon  to  speak  and  to  think 
for  a hundred  millions  of  our  fellow-creatures,  by  a small 
corporate  body,  not  yet  a half-century  old,  and  annually  dis- 
bursing only  a few  thousands  of  dollars,  we  desire  to  assign 
some  reasons  for  believing  that  a career  similar  to  that  of  the 
British  colonies  in  America,  and  similar  to  that  of  all  the 
great  colonizing  movements  of  the  past,  awaits  the  Republic 
of  Liberia. 

What,  then,  are  the  grounds  for  expecting  that  the  plans 
and  purposes  of  the  American  Colonization  Society  will  be 
ultimately  realized  in  the  Christianization  of  the  African 
continent  ? 

1.  The  first  reason  for  this  expectation  is  of  a general  na- 
ture. A frica  has  no  past  history.  It  is  the  continent  of  the 
future : for  it  is  the  only  one  now  left  to  feel,  for  the  first 
time,  the  recuperating  influences  of  a Christian  civilization, 
Religion,  law,  and  letters  began  their  march  in  Asia,  and  a 

1* 


6 


large  part  of  that  continent  once  felt  their  influence.  From 
thence  they  passed  into  Europe ; and  Europe  is  still  the  strong- 
hold of  religion,  law,  and  letters.  Westward  they  then  took 
their  way ; and  the  vast  spaces  of  the  American  continent 
are  still  waiting  for  the  Christianity  and  Republicanism  that 
have  so  rapidly  and  firmly  taken  possession  of  that  compara- 
tively small  belt  called  the  United  States.  It  is  true  that 
these  influences  were,  for  a time,  felt  along  the  northern  bor- 
der of  Africa.  Egypt  and  Carthage  were  once  civilized ; 
and  a very  vigorous  Christianity,  for  three  centuries,  erected 
its  altar,  and  kept  itsfires  bright,  along  the  southern  shore  of 
the  Mediterranean.  But  Egypt,  though  African  in  nature 
and  blood,  derived  its  ideas  from  Asiatic  sources ; and  its 
place  in  history  is  Asiatic  rather  than  African.  That  ancient 
and  wonderful  pantheistic  civilization  which  built  Thebes 
and  the  pyramids,  was  but  the  corrupted  remains  of  a yet 
more  ancient  Asiatic  monotheism  ; as  South  tells  us  that 
“ an  Aristotle  was  but  the  rubbish  of  an  Adam,  and  Athens 
but  the  rudiments  of  paradise.”  Carthage  was  Phoenician  ; 
and  when  both  Egypt  and  Carthage  were  absorbed  into 
Rome,  North- Africa  belonged  much  more  to  the  European 
than  to  the  properly  African  quarter  of  the  globe.  The  great 
continent,  then,  notwithstanding  all  these  attempts  at  ap- 
proach for  thousands  of  years,  lies  lone  and  solitary.  It  is 
out  of  all  historical  connections ; so  much  so,  that  the  gene- 
ralizing Hegel,  after  a very  brief  characterization  of  it,  in  his 
Philosophy  of  History,  dismisses  it  with  the  remark  : “We 
now  leave  Africa,  and  shall  make  no  further  mention  of  it. 
That  which  we  understand  by  Africa  proper,  is  totally  desti- 
tute of  a history ; is  totally  unopened  and  undeveloped  ; 
and  can,  therefore,  be  merely  hinted  at,  on  the  threshold  of 
Universal  History.”  1 

Now  there  is  something  in  this  fact,  that  inspires  expecta- 
tion. It  may  be  vague,  but  it  is  large  and  full.  The  mode 
and  manner  may  be  left  to  conjecture  or  imagination  ; but 
the  fact  that  one  whole  quarter  of  the  globe  has  never  yet 
been  visited  by  the  great  influences  of  religion,  law,  and  let- 


i Hegel’s  Werke,  IX.,  123. 


7 


ters,  taken  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  these  influences 
are  a part  of  the  plan  and  destination  of  God  in  reference  to 
the  ivhole  world  and  the  whole  human  family,  lead  to  the 
confident  faith  that  this  will  not  always  be  so.  Nature,  it 
was  said,  abhors  a vacuum.  Empty  spaces  will  be  filled 
and  peopled.  History  treads  no  step  backward.  Her  voice 
cries  : “ Ever  onward ! ” — as  the  guiding  Genius,  according 
to  Schiller,  continually  sounded  in  the  ear  of  Columbus  on 
the  gray  waste  of  waters  : “ Ever  westward  ! Ever  to  the 
West ! ” Who  expects  that  population,  law,  and  manners, 
will  ever  flow  eastward  again,  from  the  Alleghanies  or  the 
Rocky  Mountains  ? Who  expects  that  the  great  changes 
and  alterations  of  the  future  are  to  take  place  on  the  old 
theatres  of  Assyria,  Macedonia,  Greece,  and  Rome  ; or  on 
the  more  recent,  yet  already  antiquated  arenas  of  Modern 
Europe  ? The  winds  rush  where  there  is  vacancy.  The 
great  historic  currents  of  the  next  half-millennium,  must 
disembogue  where  they  find  room. 

The  fact,  then,  that  there  is  no  pre-occupancy,  and  no  ef- 
fete civilization,  in  the  African  world,  is  a ground  of  expec- 
tancy and  of  courage  in  regard  to  it.  It  is  a negative  prepa- 
ration for  great  results  when  the  time  arrives. 

2.  A second  ground  of  confident  hope  in  reference  to  the 
future  of  Africa,  is ' found  in  the  qualities  of  the  African 
nature. 

The  characteristics  of  the  African  man  are  still  almost  as 
unknown  as  those  of  the  African  soil  or  the  African  flora. 
There  are  two  reasons  for  this.  In  the  first  place,  the  African 
has  never  been  in  a situation  where  the  depth  and  reserve  of 
his  nature  has  been  drawn  upon.  Only  the  superficies  of  his 
being  has  been  called  into  exercise ; so  that  his  real  and  true 
manhood  lies  as  hidden  as  the  sources  of  the  Nile.  In  the 
second  place,  and  as  a consequence  of  this,  only  his  surface- 
traits  and  characteristics  have  appeared  in  his  portraiture. 
These,  moreover,  having  been  exorbitantly  unfolded,  because 
there  has  been  none  of  the  balance  and  moderation  of  a 
deeper  education  and  culture,  have  been  as  extravagantly 
depicted.  The  black  man  in  literature  is,  therefore,  either  a 


8 


weakling  or  a caricature.  The  comic  side  of  him,  alone, 
comes  into  view.  The  single  sonnet  of  Wordsworth  upon 
the  chieftain  Toussaint,  and  the  “ sparkles  dire  of  fierce,  vin- 
dictive song,”  from  the  American  Whittier,  are  almost  the 
only  literary  allusions  to  the  sublime  and  tragic  elements  in 
the  negro’s  nature  and  condition  ; certainly  the  only  allusions 
that,  without  any  abatement,  and  introduction  of  ludicrous 
traits,  ally  him  solely  with  human 

“ exultations,  agonies, 

And  love,  and  man’s  unconquerable  mind.” 

The  African  nature  is  the  tropical  nature.  All  the  races 
that  have  hitherto  struggled  upon  the  arena  of  history  have 
belonged  to  the  temperate  zone.  The  Egyptian,  the  Assy- 
rian, the  Babylonian,  the  Persian,  the  Greek,  the  Macedonian, 
the  Roman,  the  Goth,  the  Frank,  the  Englishman,  the  Anglo- 
American  — all  lived  north  of  Cancer.  And  the  fact  that  thus 
far  the  inter-tropical  portion  of  the  globe  has  furnished  few  or 
none  of  the  elements  of  human  history,  is  very  often  cited  to 
to  prove  that  it  can  furnish  none.  It  has  almost  come  to  be  an 
axiom  that  the  hot  zone  cannot  ripen  man.  Brazil  may  crys- 
tallize diamonds  of  the  purest  water,  and  Africa  may  distil 
the  most  elaborate  juices  and  gums  ; but  high  intelligence 
and  free  will  must  grow  up  beneath  northern  skies. 

Now,  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  fallen  human  being 
needs  stimulation,  and  that  sinful  man  has  done  best  when 
he  has  been  crowded  from  the  outside.  Easy  and  pleasant 
circumstances  have  always  proved  too  much  for  his  feeble 
virtue.  Hence,  though  he  was  created  in  Paradise,  and  lap- 
ped in  elysium  so  long  as  he  could  bear  it,  yet,  the  very  mo- 
ment he  unfitted  himself  for  such  perpetual  peace  and. joy, 
he  was  driven  out  among  the  thorns  and  thistles,  and  com- 
pelled to  eat  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow.  In  conse- 
quence of  human  apostasy,  then,  and  for  no  other  reason, 
the  general  movement  of  human  history  has  been  in  climes 
and  under  skies  that  have  tasked  man,  and  have  fretted  him 
to  action.  While,  therefore,  it  is  conceded  that  the  colder 
zones  and  the  harder  soils  have  been  favorable,  like  the  primi- 


9 


tive  curse  of  labor  itself,  to  the  best  unfolding  of  an  imperfect 
and  a corrupt  humanity,  it  still  remains  true  that  man  was 
originally  made  for  an  outward  world  of  genial  warmth,  of 
luxuriant  growth,  and  of  beauty.  The  primitive  man  was 
nude  ; his  light  labor  was  merely  to  prune  away  luxuriance  ; 
and  his  spiritual  mind,  sanctified  by  direct  intercourse  with 
angel,  seraph,  and  the  Eternal  Mind,  could  both  endure  and 
profit  by  the  otherwise  enervating  bliss  and  beauty  of  Eden. 

This  original  intent  and  adaptation  of  the  Creator,  war- 
rants the  belief,  that  as  there  are  some  circumstances  and  in- 
fluences under  a temperate  sky  that  are  favorable  to  human 
development,  so  there  are  some,  also,  beneath  a torrid  one. 
Wherever  man  can  go  and  live,  there  he  can  grow  and  thrive. 
Wisdom  rejoiceth  in  all  the  habitable  parts  of  the  earth ; and 
her  delights  are  with  all  the  sons  of  men. 

What,  then,  are  the  fundamental  peculiarities  of  the  Afri- 
can, or  of  man  within  the  tropics , that  afford  ground  for  faith 
and  confidence  that  human  nature  will  here  also,  in  due  sea- 
son, exhibit  a culture  and  character  unique  and  fine  ? 

Before  proceeding  to  give  only  the  very  brief  answer 
which  the  time  allows  to  this  question,  it  is  necessary  to  di- 
rect attention  to  the  comprehensiveness  of  the  word  “ Afri- 
can.” We  mean  by  it,  and  it  properly  denotes,  a physical 
and  mental  structure  that  belongs  to  the  African  continent 
as  a whole,  in  the  same  sense  that  the  “ Asiatic  ” belongs  to 
Asia,  and  the  “ European  ” belongs  to  Europe.  The  term, 
therefore,  includes  a variety  of  races  ; all,  however,  charac- 
terized by  certain  common  traits.  From  the  mouths  of  the 
Nile  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  the  observing  traveller  will 
find  a primary  type  of  mankind  different  from  the  Shemitic, 
and  different  from  the  Japhetic ; a style  of  man  which  is 
original  and  sui-generis ; and  the  minor  varieties  of  which 
can  Easily  be  accounted  for  by  the  physical  changes  that 
are  made  by  varieties  in  the  modes  of  living,  and  particu- 
larly in  the  degrees  of  proximity  to  the  burning  equatorial 
line. 

It  is  the  misfortune  of  Africa  that  only  the  most  degraded 
portion  of  its  population  have  been  its  representatives  be- 


10 


fore  the  world.  The  enslaved  and  thereby  imbruted  negro 
is  the  only  specimen  from  which  the  civilized  world  obtains 
its  ideas,  and  draws  its  conclusions,  as  to  the  dignity  and 
capabilities  of  the  tropical  man.  But  the  coast  negro,  as  we 
shall  soon  have  occasion  to  see,  is,  in  his  best  estate,  merely 
the  extreme  of  the  African  type  ; and  even  he  has  not  yet 
been  seen  in  his  best  estate.  What  would  be  thought  of  a 
generalization  in  respect  to  the  native  traits  and  capacities 
of  the  whole  Celtic  stock,  — of  the  entire  blood  of  polished 
France,  and  eloquent  Ireland,  and  the  gallant  Scotch  High- 
lands, — that  should  be  deduced  from  the  brutish  descendants 
of  those  Irish  who  were  driven  out  of  Ulster  and  South  Down 
in  the  time  of  Cromwell ; men  now  of  the  most  repulsive 
characteristics,  “ with  open,  projecting  mouths,  prominent 
and  exposed  gums,  advancing  cheek-bones,  depressed  noses  ; 
height,  five  feet  two  inches,  on  an  average ; bow-legged, 
abortively  featured  ; their  clothing,  a wisp  of  rags  ; spectres 
of  a people  that  were  once  well-grown,  able-bodied,  and 
comely.”  But  such  a judgment  would  be  of  equal  value 
with  that  narrow  estimate  of  the  natural  traits  and  charac- 
teristics of  the  inhabitants  of  one  entire  quarter  of  the  globe, 
which  rests  upon  an  acquaintance  with  a small  portion  of 
them,  a mere  infinitesimal  of  them,  carried  into  a foreign  land 
and  reduced  to  slavery. 

The  African  seems  to  differ  from  the  European  and  the 
Asiatic  by  a fuller,  more  profuse,  and  more  sensuous  organi- 
zation. He  is  emphatically  the  child  of  the  Earth  and  the 
Sun.  His  tissues  are  not  compact,  tough,  and  fibrous,  like 
those  of  the  more  northern  races.  On  the  contrary,  they 
are  tumid,  and  betoken  a luxurious  soul.  The  organs  of  the 
senses — the  eyes,  nose,  mouth,  and  ears  — are  called  “rich,” 
in  the  phrase  of  the  physiognomist  ; and,  in  the  ex- 
treme types,  are  animal  and  coarse.  Man  is  like  the  earth 
he  lives  upon;  and  the  African  man  corresponds  to  that 
tropical  soil  and  climate,  in  which  every  seed  swells  and 
sprouts  with  the  rank  luxuriance  of  a jungle.  The  great 
generical  feature  in  the  African,  then,  is  richness  and  fulness 
in  the  physical  organization  ; and,  in  proof  that  it  is  so,  we 
shall  cite  the  testimony  of  travellers  and  physiologists. 


11 


The  French  Denon  tells  us  that  u instead  of  the  sharp  fea- 
tures, the  keen,  animated,  and  restless  visages,  the  lean  and 
active  figures  of  the  Arabian,”  he  finds  “ in  the  land  of  the 
Pharaohs,  full  but  delicate  and  voluptuous  forms  ; counte- 
nances sedate  and  placid ; round  and  soft  features ; with 
eyes  long,  almond-shaped,  half-shut  and  languishing,  and 
turned  up  at  the  outer  angles,  as  if  habitually  fatigued  by  the 
light  and  heat  of  the  sun ; thick  lips,  full  and  prominent ; 
mouths  large,  but  cheerful  and  smiling  ; complexions  dark, 
ruddy,  and  coppery ; and  the  whole  aspect  displaying,  as 
one  of  the  most  graphic  delineators  among  modern  travel- 
lers has  observed,  the  genuine  African  character , of  which 
the  Negro  is  the  exaggerated  and  extreme  representation.”  1 
Blumenbach’s  examinations  of  the  Egyptian  mummies  led 
him  to  the  belief  that  there  are  three  varieties  in  the  physi- 
ognomy expressed  in  Egyptian  paintings  and  sculptures. 
But  one  of  these  was  the  Ethiopian,  which,  he  says,  “ coin- 
cides with  the  descriptions  given  of  the  Egyptians  by  the  an- 
cients, and  is  chiefly  distinguished  by  prominent  jaws,  tur- 
gid lips,  a broad  fiat  nose,  and  protruding  eye-balls.” 2 
u Among  the  modern  Copts,”  says  Prichard,  “ many  travel- 
lers have  remarked  a certain  approximation  to  the  Negro. 
Volney  says  that  they  have  a yellowish,  dusky  complexion, 
resembling  neither  the  Grecian  nor  Arabian  ; and  adds  that 
they  have  a puffed  visage,  swollen  eyes,  flat  nose,  and  thick 
lips,  and  bear  much  resemblance  to  mulattoes.”  3 Ledyard, 
whose  testimony  Prichard  remarks  is  of  the  more  value  as 
he  had  no  theory  to  support,  says  : “ I suspect  the  Copts  to 
have  been  the  origin  of  the  Negro  race  : the  nose  and  lips 
correspond  with  those  of  the  Negro.  The  hair,  wherever  I 
can  see  it  among  the  people  here  (the  Copts),  is  curled,  not 
like  that  of  the  Negroes,  but  like  that  of  the  mulattoes.”  4 
But  if  the  Egyptians  and  Copts  exhibit  the  full,  sensuous 
and  luxurious  organization  of  the  African,  and  properly  be- 
long to  the  African  race,  it  certainly  will  not  be  difficult  to 
establish  the  same  claim  for  all  the  remaining  dwellers  on  the 

1 Prichard’s  Natural  History  of  Man,  pp.  151,  152. 

2 Prichard,  p.  156.  3 Ibid.  p.  158.  4 Ibid.  p.  159 


12 


continent.  These  were  nearest  to  Asia  and  Europe,  and  felt 
most  of  foreign  influences  ; and  yet  the  type  could  not  be 
changed : the  round  cheek,  the  full,  protuberant  eye,  the  dark 
hue,  could  not  be  converted  into  their  contraries. 

Passing  southward,  into  the  burning  heart  of  Africa,  we 
find  the  tropical  man  in  yet  greater  intensity  and  power. 
The  races  of  Soudan  display  the  fervid  type  of  humanity 
fully  formed,  and  in  the  highest  degree.  There  are  varie- 
ties in  this  great  central  region  ; the  lowest  being  found  on 
the  Guinea  coast,  and  the  higher  ones  meeting  the  traveller 
as  he  rises  those  great  terraces  by  which  the  continent  lifts 
itself  up  from  the  sea.  The  Negroes  of  the  Gold  Coast, 
though  dwelling  amidst  miasm  and  fever,  and  feeling  only 
the  very  worst  influences  of  European  intercourse,  are  never- 
theless characterized  by  Barbot  as  “ generally  well-limbed 
and  well-proportioned  ; having  good  oval  faces,  sparkling 
eyes,  eye-brows  lofty  and  thick  ; mouths  not  too  large  ; 
clean,  white,  and  well-arranged  teeth ; fresh  red  lips,  not  so 
thick  and  pendent  as  those  of  Angola,  nor  their  noses  so 
broad.”  1 “ Among  the  Ashantee  tribe  of  this  same  Guinea 

race,”  says  Bowditch,  “ are  to  be  seen,  especially  among  the 
higher  orders,  not  only  the  finest  figures,  but,  in  many  in- 
stances, regular  Grecian  features,  with  brilliant  eyes,  set 
rather  obliquely  in  the  head.”  2 

Of  the  Senegambian  nations,  the  Mandingoes  are  re- 
markable for  their  industry  ; and,  of  all  the  inter-tropical 
races  have  shown  the  greatest  energy  of  character.  Their 
features  are  regular,  their  character  generous  and  open,  and 
their  manners  gentle.  Their  hair  is  of  the  kind  termed  com- 
pletely woolly.  The  Fulahs,  another  Senegambian  people, 
forge  iron  and  silver,  and  work  skilfully  in  leather  and  wood, 
and  fabricate  cloth.  An  intelligent  French  traveller  describes 
them  as  fine  men,  robust  and  courageous,  understanding 
commerce,  and  travelling  as  far  as  to  the  Gulf  of  Guinea. 
The  color  of  their  skin  is  a kind  of  reddish-black,  their  coun- 
tenances are  regular,  and  their  hair  longer  and  not  so  wool- 
ly as  those  of  the  common  Negroes.3 
i Prichard,  p.  306.  2 Ibid.  p.  307.  3 Ibid.  p.  297. 


These  statements  may  be  overdrawn  in  some  particulars, 
and  further  exploration  is  undoubtedly  required  in  order  to 
form  a sure  and  completely  satisfactory  judgment  respecting 
the  tribes  of  Soudan.  But,  certainly,  all  the  information 
thus  far  obtained,  goes  to  evince  that  this  Negro-land  is  fil- 
led up  with  no  puny  populations,  but  with  barbaric  races  of 
a powerful  structure, — the  bone  and  muscle  out  of  which  a 
Christian  civilization  shall  hereafter  form  a. powerful  style 
of  man. 

Finally,  threading  our  way  downward,  from  the  terraces 
to  the  southern-ward  slope  of  the  African  continent,  we  find 
the  Hottentot  and  Kafir,  the  most  degraded  of  the  African 
races,  yet  owing  the  excess  of  their  degradation,  by  which 
they  fall  below  the  other  African  races,  to  the  contact  and 
influence  of  a corrupt  European  civilization.  Unless  a gen- 
uine Christian  influence  shall  eventually  be  thrown  in  upon 
them  by  missions,  by  education,  and  by  commerce,  it  was, 
indeed,  as  one  remarks,  an  ill-omened  hour  when  a Chris- 
tian navigator  descried  the  Cape  of  Storms.  The  Hottentot, 
by  war  and  vices,  has  to  a great  extent  degenerated  into  the 
Bushman  ; but  the  Kafir  still  retains  his  aboriginal  traits. 
Professor  Lichtenstein  describes  them  as  follows  : “ They 
are  tall,  strong,  and  their  limbs  well  proportioned ; their  color 
is  brown  ; their  hair,  black  and  woolly  ; they  have  the  high 
forehead  and  prominent  nose  of  the  Europeans,  the  thick  lips 
of  the  Negroes,  and  the  high  cheek  bones  of  the  Hottentots.”1 2 

This  rapid  survey  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  continent, 
from  north  to  south,  justifies  us,  then,  in  attributing  a com>- 
mon  continental  character  to  them  all, — and  a continental 
character  that  is  neither  feeble  nor  emasculated ; but,  on  the 
contrary,  one  that  is  muscular,  arterial,  and  prodigal.  There 
is  a generical  type  of  the  African  nature,  constituted  by  the 
assemblage  of  certain  physical  and  mental  characteristics, 
which  may  be  found  all  over  the  African  continent,  whereby 
this  portion  of  thie  globe  becomes  as  distinct  and  peculiar  as 
Asia,  or  Europe,  or  America.  And  it  is  from  this  inter-tropi- 

1 Prichard,  p.  317. 

2 


14 


cal  humanity  that  we  are  to  deduce  a ground  of  belief  and 
confidence  that  Ethiopia  will  yet  stretch  out  her  hands  to 
God,  and  that  Africa  is  finally  to  acquire  a place  in  the  uni- 
versal history  of  man  on  the  globe. 

The  chief  characteristic  of  the  African  nature  is  the  union, 
in  it,  of  recipiency  with  passion.  The  African  is  docile.  He 
has  nothing  of  the  hard  and  self-asserting  nature  of  the  Goth. 
He  is  indisposed  (like  the  dweller  of  the  cold  and  stimulat- 
ing zones)  to  stamp  his  own  individuality  upon  others.  On 
the  contrary,  his  plastic,  ductile,  docile  nature  receives  influ- 
ence from  every  side,  gladly  and  genially.  It  is  not  probable 
that  great  empires  will  be  built  up  on  the  African  continent, 
that  will  extend  their  sway  over  other  parts  of  the  globe,  — 
as  the  Persian  sought  to  obtain  rule  in  Europe,  but  was 
thwarted  by  Greece ; or  as  the  Roman  extended  his  domin- 
ion over  both  Asia  and  Africa.  The  lust  of  empire  will 
probably  never  run  in  African  blood  ; for,  foreign  conquest 
requires  a stern,  self-reliant,  indocile,  ambitious  nature, 
which  would  force  itself  upon  other  races  and  regions ; and 
of  this,  the  tropical  man  has  little  or  nothing.  It  is  rather 
to  be  expected  that  the  African  will  confine  himself  to  his 
own  home,  within  the  tropics,  and  will  there  take  up,  into 
his  own  rich  and  receptive  nature,  the  great  variety  of  ele- 
ments and  influences  that  will  be  furnished  by  other  races 
and  portions  of  the  globe. 

Under  such  circumstances,  a unique  and  remarkable  de- 
velopment of  human  nature  must  occur.  A new  form  of 
national  life  will  take  rise.  For  this  plastic  character,  this 
deep  and  absorbing  receptivity,  will  be  an  alluvium,  in 
which  all  seeds  that  are  planted  will  strike  a long  root, 
and  shoot  up  a luxuriant  growth.  National  history,  thus  far, 
exhibits  stimulant  natures,  and  stimulant  characteristics. 
The  types  of  nationality  that  figure  in  the  past,  have  gene- 
rally been  moulded  from  this  sort  of  material,  — a species 
which  has  reached  its  height  in  the  Anglo-Saxon.  This 
quality  is,  indeed,  a strong,  intense,  and  grand  one ; and 
we  are  the  last  to  disparage  its  worth.  The  triumphs  of 
modern  Christianity,  and  modern  Civilization,  are  intimately 


15 


connected  with  its  powerful  and  persistent  action  in  indi- 
viduals and  nations.  But  this  tense  and  stimulant  nature, 
characteristic  of  man  in  the  northern  zone,  has  its  deficien- 
cies, also,  like  everything  human.  In  isolation,  and  after 
long  strain,  it  becomes  wiry,  hard,  brittle,  broken.  It  would 
not  be  well  that  it  should  be  the  sole  type  of  humanity ; or 
that  no  other  elements  than  it  can  furnish,  should  enter  into 
the  texture  and  fabric  of  national  or  individual  life,  from 
generation  to  generation.  The  Saxon  himself,  in  order  to  his 
own  preservation  even,  as  well  as  his  own  best  development, 
needs  some  infusion  of  equatorial  elements.  It  would  be  well 
if  his  already  over-wrought  stimulancy  could  be  somewhat 
tranquillized  and  enriched  by  the  languor  and  sluggishness 
of  the  tropics.  It  would  be  well  if  the  hollow  features  of  the 
Anglo-American  could  assume  somewhat  of  the  rounded 
fulness  of  the  Sphinx’s  or  the  Memnon’s  face ; if  his  eager 
and  too  shallow  eye,  could  be  made  bulbous  and  deep,  like 
that  of  Soudan. 

This,  then,  is  the  groundwork  of  the  coming  nationalities 
in  Africa.  It  is  a mild,  docile,  musing,  and  recipient  nature, 
which  is  to  drink  in  all  the  influences  that  shall  pour  forth 
from  the  old,  and  perhaps  then  declining  civilizations  of  the 
other  zones.  It  is  the  artist’s  nature,  open  at  every  pore,  sen- 
sitive in  every  globule  and  cell  of  tissue,  pulsing  with  a 
warm  and  somewhat  slumbrous  life,  — a deep  base  for  a 
high  structure. 

But  this  lethargic  quality  in  the  tropical  man  is  allied  with 
an  opposite  one.  He  is  also  a creature  of  passion.  In  the 
phrase  of  Mark  Antony,  there  is  a “ fire  that  quickens  Ni- 
lus’  slime.”  Like  his  own  clime,  the  inhabitant  of  the  trop- 
ics combines  great  antagonisms  in  his  constitution.  This 
slumber  of  his  nature  is  readily  stirred  into  wildest  rage, — 
as  the  heavy  and  curtained  air  of  the  equator,  which  has 
hung  dense  and  still  for  days  and  weeks,  is  suddenly  dis- 
parted by  electric  currents,  and,  in  an  instant,  is  one  wide, 
livid  blaze  of  lightning.  This  quality,  like  all  counterbalanc- 
ing ones,  is  not  strictly  contrary  to  the  one  that  has  just  been 
described.  Were  it  so,  the  one  would  neutralize  and  kill  the 


16 


other.  There  would  be  no  interpenetration  of  the  two,  if 
nothing  but  the  relation  of  sheer  and  mere  contrariety,  like 
that  between  fire  and  water,  obtained  between  these  two 
qualities  in  the  African  nature.  It  is  antithesis,  not  contra- 
riety. For  this  very  passion  itself  originates  in,  and  springs 
right  out  of,  the  lethargy.  The  nature  has  been  slumbrous 
and  dormant,  only  that  it  may,  at  the  proper  time,  be  fiery 
and  active.  The  one  balances,  not  neutralizes,  the  other. 
Were  there  an  unintermittent  draught  and  strain  upon  the 
entire  man,  there  could  never  be  this  tropical  vehemence. 
But  the  slumber  is  recuperative  of  the  constitutional  force  ; 
and,  in  and  by  the  oscillations  of  passion  and  lethargy,  the 
wondrous  life  goes  on. 

That  the  African  is  a passiopate  being,  is  attested  by  all 
history.  No  one  can  look  at  the  features  of  the  Memnon, 
without  perceiving  that  beneath  that  placid  contour  there 
sleeps  a world  of  passion.  Shakspeare  has  given  Cleopatra 
to  us  in  her  own  proud  words  : 

“ I am  fire  and  air  ; my  other  elements 
I give  to  baser  life.” 

The  influences  of  Christianity  do  not  destroy,  but  refine 
and  sanctify,  this  quality.  The  North- African  church  of  the 
first  centuries  was  full  of  divine  fire.  It  flashes  in  the  labor- 
ing but  powerful  rhetoric  of  Tertullian.  It  glows  like  an- 
thracite in  the  thoughts  of  Augustine,  whose  symbol  in  the 
church  is  a flaming  heart ; and  over  whose  mighty  and  pas- 
sionate sensualism  the  serene,  spiritualizing,  and  Divine 
power  of  Christianity  ultimately,  and  only  after  an  elemental 
war  within  like  that  of  chaos,  wrought  an  ethereal  and  saintly 
transformation  that  has  not  yet  been  paralleled  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  church. 

But  we  need  not  go  into  the  distant  past,  or  into  the  dis- 
tant African  continent,  for  evidence  upon  this  point.  We 
cannot  look  into  the  eye  of  the  degraded  black  man  who 
meets  us  in  our  daily  walks,  without  perceiving  that  he  be- 
longs to  the  torrid  zone.  The  eye,  more  than  any  other  fea- 
ture, is  the  index  of  the  soul,  and  of  the  soul’s  life.  That 


17 


full,  liquid,  opaline  orb,  that  looks  out  upon  us  from  face  and 
features  that  are  stolid,  or  perhaps  repulsive,  testifies  to  the 
union  of  passion  and  lethargy  in  this  fellow-creature.  That 
large  and  throbbing  ball,  that  sad  and  burning  glance,  though 
in  a degraded  and  down-trodden  man,  betoken  that  he  be- 
longs to  a passionate,  a lyrical,  and  an  eloquent  race. 

This  tropical  eye,  when  found  in  conjunction  with  Cau- 
casian features,  is  indicative  of  a very  remarkable  organiza- 
tion. It  shows  that  tremulous  sensibilities  are  reposing  upon 
a base  of  logic.  No  one  could  fix  his  gaze,  for  a moment, 
upon  that  great  Northern  statesman  who  has  so  recently 
gone  down  to  his  grave,  without  perceiving  that  this  rare 
combination  was  the  physical  substrate  of  what  he  was, 
and  what  he  did.  That  deep-black  iris,  cinctured  in  a pearl- 
white  sclerotic,  and,  more  than  all,  that  fervid  torrid  glance 
and  gleam,  were  the  exponents  and  expression  of  a tropical 
nature  ; while  the  thorough-bred  Saxonism  of  all  the  rest  of 
the  physical  structure  indicated  the  calm  and  massive 
strength  that  underlay  and  supported  all  the  passion  and  all 
the  fire.  It  was  the  union  of  two  great  human  types  in  a 
single  personality.  It  was  the  whole  torrid  zone  enclosed 
and  upheld  in  the  temperate. 

It  will  be  apparent  from  this  analysis,  if  it  be  a correct 
one,  that  the  African  nature  possesses  a latent  capacity  fully 
equal,  originally,  to  that  of  the  Asiatic  or  the  European. 
Shem  and  Japhet  sprang  from  the  very  same  loins  with  Ham. 
God  made  of  one  blood  those  three  great  races  by  which  he  re- 
populated the  globe  after  the  deluge.  This  blending  of  two 
such  striking  antitheses  as  energy  and  lethargy,  the  soul  and 
the  sense ; this  inlaying  of  a fine  and  fiery  organization  in- 
to drowsy  flesh  and  blood ; this  supporting  of  a keen  and 
irritable  nerve  by  a tumid  and  strong  muscular  cord, — what 
finer  combination  than  this  is  there  among  the  varied  types 
of  mankind  ? The  objection  urged  against  the  possibility  of 
a historical  progress  in  Africa,  similar  to  that  in  the  other 
continents,  upon  the  ground  that  the  original  germ  and  ba- 
sis was  an  inferior  one, — an  objection  that  shows  itself,  if 
not  theoretically,  yet  practically,  in  the  form  of  inaction,  and 

2* 


18 


an  absence  of  enthusiasm  and  enterprising  feeling  when  the 
claims  of  Africa  are  spoken  of, — this  objection  is  invalid. 
The  philosophic  and  the  philanthropic  mind  must,  both 
alike,  rise  above  the  prejudices  of  an  age,  and  look  beyond 
a present  and  transient  degradation,  that  has  been  the  result 
of  centuries  of  ignorance  and  slavery.  If  this  be  done,  the 
philosopher  sees  no  reason  for  refusing  to  apply  the  same  law 
of  progress  and  development  (provided  the  external  circum- 
stances be  favorable,  and  the  necessary  conditions  exist) 
to  the  tropical  man,  that  he  does  to  the  man  of  the  temper- 
ate or  the  arctic  zones  ; and  no  reason  for  doubting  that,  in 
the  course  of  time,  and  under  the  genial  influences  of  the 
Christian  religion  — the  mother  of  us  all  — human  nature 
will  exhibit  all  its  high  traits  and  qualities  in  the  black  races, 
as  well  as  in  the  white.  And  certainly  the  philanthropist, 
after  a wide  survey  of  history ; after  tracing  back  the  modern 
Englishman  to  the  naked  Piet  and  bloody  Saxon  ; after 
comparing  the  filthy  savage  of  Wapping  and  St.  Giles 
with  the  very  same  being  and  the  very  same  blood  in  the 
drawing-rooms  of  Belgrave  Square  — has  every  reason  for 
keeping  up  his  courage  and  going  forward  with  his  work. 
There  have  been  much  stranger  transformations  in  history 
than  the  rise  of  African  republics,  and  African  civilizations, 
and  African  literatures  will  be. 

But  how  is  the  way  to  be  prepared  for  this  ? From  what 
point  or  points,  and  through  what  instrumentalities,  is  the 
alteration  to  commence  ? It  is  this  second  branch  of  the 
subject,  which  we  now  proceed  to  briefly  examine. 

1.  It  is  natural  to  expect  that  the  movements  of  God’s 
providence,  in  the  future  will  be  very  much  like  those  of  the 
past  ; and  that  civilization  and  culture  will,  hereafter,  pass 
into  the  unenlightened  parts  of  the  globe  in  very  much  the 
same  way  they  have  heretofore.  But  history  shows  that  this 
has  uniformly  taken  place  by  the  exodus  of  colonies.  Re- 
ligion, law,  and  letters  are  not  indigenous,  but  exotic,  in  all 
the  past  career  of  man  on  the  globe.  One  race  hands  the 
torch  of  science  to  another.  One  quarter  of  the  globe  is  both 
the  parent  and  teacher  of  another.  There  are  autochthones 


19 


nowhere.  There  are  no  strictly  self-taught  men  anywhere. 
And  in  the  last  examination,  and  at  the  primary  origin  and 
source,  we  are  compelled  to  rise  above  earth  and  man  alto- 
gether, and  find  the  first  beginnings  of  knowledge  and  reli- 
gion in  the  skies.  From  first  to  last,  there  is  an  imparting 
act  from  the  higher  to  the  lower.  The  more  intelligent 
makes  revelations  to  the  less  intelligent.  The  genealogy 
cannot  stop  short  of  the  Creator  himself.  Cainan  was  the 
son  of  Enos,  “ which  was  the  son  of  Seth,  which  was  the 
son  of  Adam,  which  was  the  son  of  God.” 

These  changes  and  movements  in  human  civilization  are 
particularly  visible  at  those  points  where  civilization  passes 
from  one  continent  to  another  continent.  The  knots  in  the 
grape-vine  reveal  where  the  life  gathers  and  concentrates  in 
order  to  a new  expansion.  Europe  received  letters  and  civ- 
ilization from  Asia.  The  little  district  of  Greece  was  the 
radiating  point ; for  Rome  received  them  from  Greece,  and 
gave  them  to  all  her  empire.  But  the  original  sources  of 
Greek  culture  were  colonists,  few  and  feeble,  from  Egypt, 
Phoenicia,  and  Asia  Minor.  The  Egyptian  Cecrops  and  Da- 
naus  brought  over  the  seeds  of  civility  to  Attica  and  Argos, 
fifteen  centuries  before  our  era.  The  Phoenician  Cadmus 
carried  over  an  Asiatic  alphabet  soon  after.  And  the  Lydian 
Pelops  soon  followed  with  his  wealth  and  knowledge  of  the 
mechanic  arts.1  But  the  consequences  of  this  immigration 
from  another  continent  were  not  felt,  to  any  great  extent, 
upon  Europe  at  large,  until  a thousand  years  had  rolled  by. 
The  Greek,  with  all  his  treasures  of  wisdom  and  of  beauty, 
was  shut  up  from  the  “ barbarian  ” world,  until  the  Roman 
broke  down  the  barrier,  and  Grecian  culture  then  had  free 
course.  And  if  we  should  allow  a millennium  for  a colony 
upon  the  African  coast  to  diffuse  law,  manners,  letters,  and 
religion,  over  the  African  continent,  it  would  be  as  rapid  a 
movement  as  that  to  which  Ancient  Rome  and  the  whole 
Modern  World  owe  their  secular  civilization. 

The  radiating  points  for  the  Western  Continent  were  the 


1 Heeren’s  Ancient  Greece,  Chapter  III. 


20 


Spanish,  and  more  especially  the  British,  colonies.  The 
movement  here  has  been  much  more  rapid  than  anything  in 
the  history  of  the  Old  World.  And  yet,  after  more  than  two 
centuries,  not  one  quarter  of  this  Western  hemisphere  is 
fully  under  the  influence  of  Christian  civilization. 

The  history  of  the  past,  then,  indicates  that  Africa  must 
receive  religion,  law,  and  letters  in  the  same  way  that  the 
other  continents  have  received  them.  They  must  be  given 
to  her.  The  colonist  must  carry  the  seeds  of  civilization 
and  of  empire  into  the  tropical  world.  Christendom  owes 
colonies  to  the  only  portion  of  the  globe  that  has  never  yet 
been  a part  of  Christendom.  Europe  and  America  ought  to 
adopt  the  utterance  of  the  great  Apostle  to  Europe  — an  ut- 
terance to  which  both  of  them,  under  God,  owe  their  religion 
and  their  culture,  more  than  to  any  other  single  human 
cause  — and  say : “We  are  debtors,  as  much  as  in  us  lies, 
to  Africa.”  Each  of  them  ought  to  prove  its  sincerity,  by 
entering  with  energy  upon  a great  colonizing  movement, 
and  planting  Christian  colonies  all  along  the  coast. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  it  is  the  colonist  of  African  bloody 
upon  whom  the  chief  reliance  must  be  placed,  so  long  as  the 
colonizing  period  continues.  For  the  tropical  climate  neces- 
sitates the  sluggish  blood  of  the  tropical  man.  It  is  certain 
death  to  expose  the  nervous,  high-strung,  and  never-relaxed 
nature  of  the  Caucasian,  to  the  fervors  of  the  burning  zone, 
and  the  damps  of  an  equatorial  night-fall.  The  dweller  in 
this  portion  of  the  globe  must  be  able  to  rise  and  fall,  like  a 
barometer,  with  the  climate  : to  act  and  toil  vehemently  for 
a time,  and  then  to  pass  into  a recuperative  inaction.  All 
the  colonists  of  history  have  gone  from  temperate  to  tem- 
perate regions.  The  true  colonist  for  the  tropics,  then,  is 
the  man  of  the  tropics.  It  may  be  that  the  white  man  can 
live  upon  the  high  grounds  of  the  interior,  when  the  heart  of 
Africa  shall  have  been  opened  to  commerce,  and  made  yet 
more  salubrious  by  agriculture  and  civilization  ; but,  for  a 
long  time  to  come,  the  black  man  must  lay  the  foundations 
of  empire  and  civilization,  and  build  up  the  superstructure. 

3.  And  thirdly,  without  intending  to  disparage,  in  the 


21 


least,  the  other  agencies  that  have  been  and  will  be  em- 
ployed, all  present  indications  go  to  show  that  it  is  the  Libe- 
rian colonist  who  must  take  the  lead  in  this  great  movement. 
For  the  Liberian  is  the  tropical  man  more  or  less  penetrated 
by  the  cold  and  calm  ideas  of  the  North.  He  carries  with 
him  some  American  discipline  and  education.  He  has  not 
lost  his  ancestral  traits ; for,  while  in  bondage,  he  has  still 
* lived  upon  the  borders  of  that  great  zone  from  which  his  fore- 
fathers were  stolen.  He  can  not  only  endure,  but  he  loves 
a hot  and  languid  clime.  And  yet  he  has  felt  the  stimu- 
lation of  that  active  race  among  whom  he  has  lived.  The 
wrath  of  man  has  praised  God.  The  American  negro  has 
been  made  aggressive  and  enterprising  by  his  enslavement. 
He  has  been  fitted  to  be  a colonist,  and  to  impress  himself 
upon  the  passive  and  plastic  millions  of  Africa,  by  a pro- 
cess that  involves  awful  guilt  in  the  human  authors  of  it. 
The  Liberian  colonist  has,  thus  far,  obtained  a firmer  foot- 
hold than  any  other,  upon  the  African  continent.  He  has 
established  a republic  whose  independence  is  acknowledged 
by  the  leading  powers  of  the  world  ; and  whose  nationality 
has  now  entered  into  the  history  of  nations.  There  is  a defi- 
nite point  of  departure,  and  a living  germ  of  expansion  in 
Liberia. 

Furthermore,  this  Liberian  republic  is  a really  Christian 
State.  There  is  not  now,  probably,  an  organized  common- 
wealth upon  the  globe,  in  which  the  principles  of  Christianity 
are  applied  with  such  a childlike  directness  and  simplicity, 
to  the  management  of  public  affairs,  as  in  Liberia.  New 
England,  in  the  days  of  her  childhood,  and  before  the  con- 
flicting interests  of  ecclesiastical  denominations  introduced 
jealousies, — Geneva,  in  the  time  of  John  Calvin,  when  the 
church  and  the  state  were  practically  one  and  the  same 
body,  now  acting  through  the  consistory,  and  now  through 
the  council,  — in  fine,  all  religious  commonwealths  in  their 
infancy,  and  before  increasing  wealth  and  luxury  have  stu- 
pefied conscience  and  dimmed  the  moral  perception,  fur- 
nish examples  of  the  existing  state  of  things  in  the  African 
republic.  Even  the  common  school  education,  which  the  Li- 


22 


berian  constitution  provides  for  the  whole  population,  has 
been  given  by  the  missionary,  and  in  connection  with  the 
most  direct  religious  instructions  and  influences.  The  state 
papers  of  the  Liberian  Executive  and  Legislature  breathe  a 
grave  and  serious  spirit,  like  that  which  inspires  the  docu- 
ments of  our  own  colonial  and  revolutionary  periods. 

It  is  not  necessary,  in  the  heart  of  New  England,  and  be- 
fore such  an  audience  as  this,  to  enlarge  upon  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  fact  that  the  most  influential  radiating  point 
for  civilization  throughout  Africa,  is  a religious  republic. 
No  reflecting  man  can  ponder  the  fact,  and  think  of  all  it 
involves,  without  ejaculating,  from  the  depths  of  his  soul  : 
“ God  save  the  Commonwealth.” 

Such,  then,  is  the  general  nature  of  the  argument  for 
African  colonies,  and  for  the  American  Colonization  Soci- 
ety. The  race  itself,  which  it  proposes  to  elevate  and  Chris- 
tianize, is  one  of  the  three  great  races  in  and  through  which 
God  intended,  after  the  total  destruction  of  all  antecedent 
ones  by  the  flood,  to  re-people  the  globe  and  subdue  it. 
The  tropical  man  and  the  tropical  mind  is  destined,  sooner 
or  later,  to  enter  intp  human  history,  and  to  have  a history. 
It  is  in  this  faith  that  the  Society,  whose  anniversary  we  are 
celebrating,  toils  and  prays.  It  has  been  its  misfortune  that 
its  vision  has  been  clearer  than  that  of  others,  and  that  it 
has,  consequently,  cherished  plans  that  have  appeared  im- 
practicable. But  this  is  always  the  misfortune  of  faith 
within  the  sacred  sphere,  and  of  genius  within  the  secular. 
Each  of  them  may  say  to  the  torpid  soul  : 

“ I hear  a voice  thou  canst  not  hear ; 

. I see  a hand  thou  canst  not  see.” 

Through  good  report,  and  through  evil  report,  this  Soci- 
ety has  pursued  its  straight-onward  course,  and  now  begins 
to  see  what  it  foresaw.  It  sees  four  hundred  miles  of  the  Af- 
rican coast  sectored,  by  fair  purchase  and  peaceable  occupa- 
tion, to  the  area  of  freedom.  It  sees  this  coast-line  widened 
into  a surface  of  fifty  miles  towards  the  interior,  and  des- 


23 


tined  to  stretch  rapidly  inland  and  coastwise.  It  sees  the 
slave  trade  extinct  not  only  within  Liberian  jurisdiction,  but 
shrinking  away  from  the  remoter  borders  of  it.  It  sees  ten 
thousand  colonists  from  America,  with  their  descendants, 
mingling  with,  and  giving  tone  to,  three  hundred  thousands 
of  native  population.  It  sees  a large  annual  commerce  com- 
ing into  existence,  and  one  that  is  increasing  in  rapid  ratio. 
It  sees  a regular  republican  government  working,  firmly  and 
equally,  through  the  forms  of  law,  and  administered  with 
singular  prudence  and  energy.  It  sees  a system  of  educa- 
tion, from  the  primary  to  the  collegiate,  exerting  its  elevat- 
ing influence  upon  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  an  incipient 
literature,  in  state-papers  and  public  addresses.  It  sees  the 
church  of  Christ  crowning  all  other  institutions,  and  giving 
* direction  to  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  rising  state. 

Looking  back,  then,  over  the  brief  forty  years  of  its  exist- 
ence, and  pointing  to  what  God  has  wrought  by  it,  is  not 
the  American  Colonization  Society  justified  in  boldly  ap- 
pealing to  the  philanthropist  for  the  means  of  still  greater 
ft  benefits  to  the  African,  and  to  Africa?  For  the  time  has 

now  arrived  for  enlarged  operations.  Africa  is  evidently  up- 
on the  eve  of  great  events.  The  explorations  of  Barth,  and 
Vogel,  and  Anderson,  and  Moffat,  and  Livingston ; the  Eng- 
lish Niger  expeditions ; the  curiosity  and  courage  of  indi- 
vidual explorers,  in  search  of  the  head  waters  of  the  Nile ; 
h the  discovery  of  fine  stalwart  races  all  through  the  interior  ; 

the  very  rapid  growth  of  African  commerce,  at  points  upon 
both  the  Eastern  and  Western  coasts  ; the  very  mystery,  it- 
self, which  overhangs  this  part  of  the  globe,  the  more  stimu- 
lating because  all  the  rest  of  the  world  lies  in  comparative 
sun-light : all  these  things  combined  tend  to  the  belief  that, 
comparatively,  more  will  be  discovered,  and  more  will  be 
done,  in  and  about  Africa,  within  the  coming  century,  than 
in  and  about  any  other  quarter  of  the  globe.  The  other  con- 
tinents have  had  their  hour  of  deliverance.  The  hour  for  Af- 
rica has  now,  for  the  first  time,  come.  Her  scores  of  races 
prove  to  have  capacities  for  Christianity  and  self-government. 
The  American  emancipationist  is  ready  and  waiting  to  send 


24 


out,  among  them,  hundreds  and  thousands  of  Americanized 
colonists.  Shall  not  the  philanthropists  of  this  land  now 
make  full  proof  of  the  Colonizing  method  ? — that  method 
which  was  employed  with  such  vigor  by  Rome  in  Romaniz- 
ing the  barbarians  whom  she  conquered  — that  method  by 
which  Britain,  the  modern  Rome,  has  made  her  drum-beat 
to  be  heard  round  the  globe  ? And,  especially,  shall  not  the 
church  of  Christ  secure  a foothold  and  a protection  for  its 
missionaries  in  Africa,  by  helping  to  extend  the  influence  of 
those  Christian  colonies  which  have  hitherto  been  their  best 
earthly  protection,  and  in  connection  with  which  alone  (so 
the  history  of  past  missions  in  Africa,  for  four  hundred  years, 
plainly  shows)  can  missionary  operations  be  carried  on  with 
permanent  success  ? 


